re: The Civil War, How Might It Have Been Avoided?

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We didn’t fight a war to end slavery, they fought a war to preserve the Union and keep from losing what the South brought to it. It was the end of the state being the primary organization of citizens and the supremacy of the federal government. The 10th amendment was rendered null and void.

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This.

Plus the North invaded the South, not the other way around, so maybe avoid sending armies to attack your own states you want to win over?

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By letting the states that wanted to leave do exactly that. Each state could have held a vote to stay in the Union or join the CSA.

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Virginia held a convention to vote to secede or not and the majority were elected to remain in the union. That changed the moment Lincoln called for raising 75,000 men to "repress the rebellion." Virginia's convention then voted to join the Confederate states.

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Nobody else ever fought a war over slavery

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well that’s just simply not true

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The South could have industrialized and diversified it's economy sooner. It was too dependent on agriculture and did not realize that an agrarian society was at a disadvantage in a technologically advancing world.

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William Gregg said and promoted exactly that prior to the Civil War and he was for elimination of slavery too. He is credited with influencing the creation of the South's textile industries.

Both of his sons were Confederate officers who died in the Civil War.

If you study early American history the real question was how was it avoided so long.

The fight over how much power the federal government had vs. how much power the state's had was going on since the founding.

Take a look at the Nullification Crisis of 1832. This could have led to a civil war, but no one really had the heart to do it. Andrew Jackson even sent federal ships to Charleston, S.C. threatening to use force if needed to make S.C. follow federal law.

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Take a look at the Nullification Crisis of 1832. This could have led to a civil war, but no one really had the heart to do it. Andrew Jackson even sent federal ships to Charleston, S.C. threatening to use force if needed to make S.C. follow federal law.

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Those tariffs mainly benefited the Northern industrialists and they caused a decade long depression in the South. As the treat of secession grew, the tariffs were slowly lowered. However, the damage was done. The brotherhood and trust forged in the Revolutionary War was gone.

What was the North fighting for?

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The states had no inherent right to secede unilaterally.

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Prior to the Constitution of the United States we had The Articles of Confederation which explicitly stated that the union of the States was a perpetual union. Much of the verbiage of the Articles of Confederation was brought into the Constitution, however, the term "perpetual union" was not included in that transition of verbiage. This is what may be called a "conspicuous absence" in that it is a glaring omission of what was considered part of the foundation of the Articles of Confederation. So where do we find the verbiage in thee Constitution that the States may not secede unilaterally? Per the 9th and 10 amendments, any authority that is not expressly granted to the federal government, nor expressly denied to the States is reserved to the States and the People respectively. The authority to hold all member states in a perpetual union is nowhere to be found in the Constitution.

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The only path for the Southern states to leave the United States of America was by constitutional amendment.

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No. The only way to hold the member states within the union in perpetuity would have been by constitutional amendment. Legally, by the letter of the law (Constitution), the States had every right to secede from the Union. The very word "State" means "sovereign political entity." Unfortunately, with the conclusion of the War for Southern Independence, the States had been reduced to little more than subjective political provinces beholden to a central government in Washington rather than legitimate States who were enjoined in an agreed-upon limited Federal government.

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Prior to the Constitution of the United States we had The Articles of Confederation which explicitly stated that the union of the States was a perpetual union. Much of the verbiage of the Articles of Confederation was brought into the Constitution, however, the term "perpetual union" was not included in that transition of verbiage. This is what may be called a "conspicuous absence" in that it is a glaring omission of what was considered part of the foundation of the Articles of Confederation. So where do we find the verbiage in thee Constitution that the States may not secede unilaterally? Per the 9th and 10 amendments, any authority that is not expressly granted to the federal government, nor expressly denied to the States is reserved to the States and the People respectively. The authority to hold all member states in a perpetual union is nowhere to be found in the Constitution.

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The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in 1778:

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To all to whom these Presents shall come, we, the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in the Words following, viz. “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

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Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determinations of the United States, in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united states, and be afterwards con-firmed by the legislatures of every state.

And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, Know Ye, that we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained. And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said confederation are submitted to them. And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states we respectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual. In Witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth Day of July, in the Year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy eight, and in the third year of the Independence of America.

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In 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, technically an amendment of the perpetual Articles, was to form a more perfect Union:

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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In a 1788 letter to Alexander Hamilton, James Madison stated:

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My opinion is that a reservation of a right to withdraw . . . is a conditional ratification . . . Compacts must be reciprocal . . . The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever.

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Hamilton and John Jay agreed with Madison's view, reserving "a right to withdraw [was] inconsistent with the Constitution.” In his first inaugural address, George Washington referred to the country as an “indissoluble union.”

There is no Constitutional right to secede. Supreme Court Justices from Chase to Scalia and the founding fathers confirm that there is no right to secede.

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The Union of the States never was a purely artificial and arbitrary relation. It began among the Colonies, and grew out of common origin, mutual sympathies, kindred principles, similar interests, and geographical relations. It was confirmed and strengthened by the necessities of war, and received definite form and character and sanction from the Articles of Confederation. By these, the Union was solemnly declared to "be perpetual." And when these Articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained "to form a more perfect Union." It is difficult to convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can be indissoluble if a perpetual Union, made more perfect, is not?

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Moreover, the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the method by which a state can enter the United States confirms there is no right to secession.

The states did not merely agree one by one to join the United States; creation required a super majority. Article VII of the U.S. Constitution required nine of the thirteen states to ratify the document for it to become the official law of the land.

Similarly, admission to the United States after the Constitution was ratified was not solely with the requesting state's power. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution requires a multi-step process. Typically, it's a five-step process:

1. The territory seeking admission holds a popular vote to ensure a majority of its citizens support becoming a state.

2. Congress passes an Enabling Act, which authorizes the territory to hold a constitutional convention and draft a state constitution.

3. The territory's proposed constitution is submitted to Congress. It must guarantee a "republican form of government" and comply with the U.S. Constitution.

4. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate must pass a joint resolution (or an Admission Act) admitting the new state.

5. The President of the United States signs the legislation, making the admission official.

Only after these steps does the new state enter the union on an "equal footing" with all other states.

So, neither individual states nor any group of states less than the number required to amend the Constitution can secede from the United States.


Although secession is not permitted by the Constitution, there is a method to leave the Union. That method is spelled out in Article Five.

Picking our own damn cotton.